An Ipswich music venue which has secured grant funding to help boost local bands and artists has announced the first wave of performers to benefit from the cause.
In January this year The Smokehouse venue secured nearly £40,000 in Arts Council England cash to launch The Smokehouse Live project.
It aims to give 36 East Anglian bands and solo artists across three years a boost with professionally recorded live audio and video of a three song session, as well as live streams, showcase gigs and artist interviews.
The first bands to have recorded sessions for today's launch are:
- Suds
- The Glitter Shop
- The Naked French
- Jack Rundell & The Haunted New Builds
- Alfie Indra
- Slow King
- Rozi Plain
- This Is The Kit
- Rubber Jaw
Barny Cutter, Ruby Smith and Harry Dale of Bury St Edmunds-based band The Glitter Shop, said: "We're really excited to be a part of The Smokehouse Live sessions as it's such an amazing chance to get professional video content.
"It's a rare opportunity for a band at our level to be given and we're grateful and excited for the opportunities that it hopefully brings following its release."
Alfie Indra added: "I love The Smokehouse. It's probably my favourite venue in the world and it helps artists with a smaller budget put on great, professional shows. "The live session was wicked, everyone there was super professional and lovely. It's such a cool studio there and the quality is top notch."
The project followed a pilot in 2017 with 10 performers, with bands from that pilot having since performed at the likes of Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds festivals.
Joe Bailey, director of Out Loud Music which runs The Smokehouse, said: "By producing professional quality digital media to be shared with fans in East Anglia and further afield, The Smokehouse Live will give the Suffolk music scene a huge boost in the face of a lack of regional live music infrastructure, which hopes to be the beginning of a long-term initiative."
It follows the first Sound City Ipswich event in October, also supported by Arts Council England and organised by The Smokehouse team, which worked to showcase the town as a venue for touring artists to visit.
Mr Bailey added: "Over the next three years The Smokehouse will aim to shape this new outlet for the region's music into a cornerstone of the local creative scene; becoming a springboard all artists hope to use in order to aid their progression.
"By helping artists to create professional media assets, the project will help them in engaging with larger audiences, in part through developing a far greater public profile via The Smokehouse network."
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